Back to school at LTS Hong Kong

Chapel flowers during Mid Autumn Harvest Moon Week.

Wayne and I are back in the saddle at LTS Hong Kong, and my jet-lag is totally, finally over (only two weeks later :) So we're back in Hong Kong where --

--we have daily chapel:

(This one led by a recent group of Hong Kong students who did an intercultural exploration/ mission trip to Cambodia and Thailand)

--where I, Christa, at the advanced age of.... oh never mind, let's just say at my advanced age, I have just been accepted into the Doctorate of Ministry program at LTS (part time student, my goal is to graduate before I turn sixty :)
and am taking a course in Diakonia:

snapshot of my class - two Mainland Chinese students (for whom Mandarin translation
is provided) two from Hong Kong, one American (me!), one from Myanmar, one from
Nepal, one from Cambodia. Talk about diversity! 

and one very cool teacher, with years of theological/practical diaconal experience in Hong Kong and Norway
(one of the best teachers I've had, and I've had some good ones)

and, lest we forget that we are in Hong Kong,
 there's THIS, discovered and filmed on our way home from seminary last week:

(My Hong Kong friends assure me that the snakes will soon be in winter hibernation. This Red-necked Keelback snake seems to have a mouse in its belly, if you look closely.)

Happy Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival Everybody!

It's great to be back!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

3 

...Praise him, sun and moon;

   

Praise the Lord from the earth,

    

10 

wild animals and ... creeping things... 

13 

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for his name alone is exalted;

    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

Jet lagging in Hong Kong

I'm back in Hong Kong! Where the rain, it raineth everyday.

Here's the view from my office at the seminary, in the New Territories of Hong Kong. (Yes, those are more rains, on the way)

One benefit of jet lag is it's the only time I get up early enough to run as the sun is coming up (It's been a week now and I'm still waking up between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.)

Yes, this is along the canal,  the view on my running path just this morning. I'm lucky enough to live near one of the only places in Hong Kong where you can run a 5 mile route without hills!

One of the best things about being back in Hong Kong? Ma On Shan Truth Lutheran Church, where I'm the "sacramental pastor." Here is a snippet of the men's group singing yesterday:

Ah, blessings upon blessings. It's good to be back in Hong Kong!

Stay tuned for more about the amazing students at LTS in upcoming posts.